Gas and liquid piping systems which utilize corrugated stainless steel tubing (“CSST”) and fittings are known. Such piping systems can be designed for use in combination with elevated gas pressures of up to about 0.03 megapascals (MPa) or more, and provide advantages over traditional rigid black iron piping systems in terms of ease and speed of installation, elimination of onsite measuring, and reduction in the need for certain fittings such as elbows, tees, and couplings.
An exemplary self-aligning and self-flaring fitting assembly, which does not require the use of a sealing gasket, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,995 to Mau (“the '995 patent”), which is incorporated by reference herein. The '995 patent is owned by Titeflex Corporation, assignee of the present application, and discloses a self-flaring fitting assembly for use with semi-flexible, convoluted tubes or pipes, including CSST systems. The fitting assembly includes an externally-threaded adapter having a pipe receiving bore divided into a plurality of sections of different diameters, a nut threaded to a first end of the adapter, and a split bushing assembly with at least two internally spaced ribs for engaging circumferential grooves of the corrugated tubing, as shown in FIGS. 2-5 of the '995 patent. The fitting assembly disclosed in the '995 patent forms a seal by compressing an end corrugation or convolution between an internal stop shoulder of the adapter and one end of the split bushing assembly. A seal formed according to the above mechanism may be suitable for preventing leaking of gas and/or liquid through the pipe and fitting connection. However, in some instances, excessive torque may be required to create a seal on certain types of tubing.
It would be desirable to generate a uniform force, per circumferential unit distance, sealing interface that can provide a known sealing pressure per unit area of corrugated sealing surface engaged.
It would also be desirable to provide a fitting having a suitable sealing mechanism for connecting the fitting to a length of tubing. Such a fitting preferably could be adapted for use with different types of tubing and fitting interfaces and other piping and tubing systems, particularly those designed for transporting gas and/or liquid.
In some fittings designed for use with CSST systems, an end corrugation of the tubing is compressed to form a metal-to-metal seal. Examples of such sealing arrangements include U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,052 to Albino et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,781 to Edler, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,114 to Moner.
It would be desirable to provide an improved fitting configured for connection to a length of corrugated tubing, where the fitting incorporates a sealing mechanism including at least a crimp sealing device. The fitting and related devices and methods should overcome the deficiencies of the presently available fittings and sealing arrangements, for which it can be difficult to produce a suitable amount of torque, and in which a suitable circumferential sealing force per unit area has not heretofore been achieved.